


Now You See Me

by QZB



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Basically magic exists but only for a chosen few, F/F, Inspired by Now You See Me, Lightly follows the movie but not exactly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-13 11:03:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 19,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18467629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QZB/pseuds/QZB
Summary: Based off of the movie of the same name.Four street magicians get mysterious tarot cards.





	1. The Lovers, The Magician, The High Priestess, and Death

**Author's Note:**

> So siphoning works a little different in this world. If a siphon attempts to siphon from someone who doesn't have magic they can just read their thoughts instead. The twins also have actual twin telepathy.
> 
> It's all for good fun I promise!  
> Enjoy!

“Ladies and gentlemen watch me very carefully as I do this. Now what is your name handsome?” Lizzie flourishes the cards in front of the 20-something man in front of her.

 

He smiles “Eli.”

 

Lizzie flirts with him as she says “Hello there Eli, now please do me a favor and pick your card.”

 

She turns to the audience as he makes his choice “Now what have I been telling you all night? You need to look close, closer. Watch as Eli carefully picks his card because the closer you look” she gestures for the crowd to finish the saying

 

“The less you see!” they yell enthusiastically back.

 

He picks a card. It’s the 7 of spades, Lizzie knows this already. This is the easy part. She gets to play the act of the dumb blonde. She’s good at this part, always has been. It’s easy, she just has to flip her hair once or twice, shift a bit from foot to foot, pitch her voice up a little bit, trail off on the end of her sentences.

 

She takes the rest of the cards back and covers her eyes “Okay now show the crowd your card, I’m not looking.”

 

She can tell he does, can hear his feet shuffling and the crowd murmuring as he does a small circle with the card above his head. He pulls the card back to his chest and says “Okay, I showed them.”

 

She opens her eyes and smiles broadly at the boy “Great Eli, now is” she pulls out the 5 of clubs “this your card?”

 

He scoffs “No.”

 

She pretends to think for a second, then shuffles through the deck in her hand, muttering “oh come on, I know it’s in here somewhere.”

 

She looks up at the large office building across the street “Oh wait” she points “Found your card.”

 

The crowd turns to see the entire side of the office building alit with Eli’s card. The 7 of Spades.

 

The crowd erupts into laughter and applause.

 

“Thank you, thank you. My name is Liz Saltzman and you have been a fantastic crowd! Thank you Hollywood!”

 

The crowd disperses, dropping tips into the open box she has in front of her, a few opt to stand and take photos with her or the stars on the boulevard. She’s closing up the box when she sees a strange card sticking out.

 

Upon closer inspection the card is a Tarot card, The Lovers to be exact. She turns it over in her hand a bit, testing the weightiness of it.

 

Eli coughs from in front of her, breaking her out of her daze. She looks up and smiles at the boy. “Hey Liz I was wondering if you’d like to get coffee sometime”

 

She laughs “Eli hey not to break your heart but you’re not my type”

 

“What is your type? Would it make any difference if I told you I’ve been blonde before?”

 

“Women mostly. Not blondes really, I think it’d be weird to date someone who looks just like me.”

 

Eli frowns “But I thought-”

 

“It’s called acting, Eli. Have a good day though!” She smiles and turns back to her gear.

 

Lizzie packs up the rest of her gear while she continues toying with the Tarot card. She turns it over in her hand and sees there’s something printed on the back of it.

 

An address.

 

An apartment in New York City.

 

A date.

 

A week from now.

 

\---

 

“For my final trick tonight I’m going to be doing what some might call impossible” Hope yells to the ecstatic crowd “I’m going to be escaping from these bonds while underwater!”

 

She rattles the handcuffs and chains around her wrist as the crowd reaches a fever pitch. Hope paces around the stage, lights flickering blue and purple around her.

 

“I have 45 seconds to do so, that’s the record my father set and that’s the record that I’m going to beat right here tonight!”

 

She circles around the stage once more before climbing up the short ladder above a tank filled with clear blue water. Her assistant, MG, yanks and pulls on the chains to show that they’re secure to the audience. He secures her feet with more cuffs and she kicks her feet a bit. MG steps off the metal grate and to the control panel, flourishing as he puts his hands on a comically large lever.

 

He pulls the lever and Hope falls into the tank with a solid **splash**.

 

The noise from the crowd fades away as the water overwhelms her senses.

 

00:05

 

Everything is murky, slow and blue as she struggles with her bonds.

 

00:15

 

She can hear the crowd noise from beyond the water, they’re chanting and cheering for her, but slightly nervous.

 

00:30

 

The binds are off now, but the water remains murky. She can hear MG yelling to the crowd that he’s now going to dye the water black, as to mark her when she comes out.

 

Her internal count marks 00:40 seconds, when MG drops the black dye. It enters the water and makes everything dark. It’s time for her to make a clever and slightly magical exit.

 

00:45

 

She focuses on her magic, pulls it from within her. She teleports, leaving the cuffs and bonds in the water. She appears within the crowd, in a small exit tunnel behind them.

 

01:00

 

The crowd is downright nervous now, murmuring and jostling towards the tank she previously occupied. MG pulls another lever to drain the water out of the tank.

 

The tank empties and the crowd gasps.

 

She steps out from the tunnel, arms raised “Y’all looking for me?”

 

The spotlight swings to her and the crowd erupts in applause, clapping her on the back and offering her their drinks.

 

MG offers her a hand so she can jump back on stage and address the crowd. She basks in their applause, closes her eyes and lets it flow over her.

 

“My name is Hope Mikaelson, you can see me perform here every night! Thank you for coming out!”

 

The curtain closes around the stage and the crowd noise fades. She turns to MG, “God I’m tired.”

 

He pats her on the shoulder “I had a friend from the kitchen put a warm cup of hot chocolate in your dressing room, warm yourself up and then come over. Kaleb and I were planning a game night.”

 

They make their way under the stage towards the dressing rooms “Thanks MG, but I think I’m just gonna head home and sleep.”

 

They stop in front of Hope’s dressing room and MG gives her a quick hug “Feel better soon Hope. We have a few days off next week, look forward to that!” he says as he takes off down the hall.

 

Hope smiles as she enters her dressing room. She notes the hot chocolate on the vanity and takes a sip. When she moves the cup something falls behind it.

 

A Tarot card. The Magician.

 

She scoffs, MG’s friend must have a sense of humor to leave this with the hot chocolate. She picks up the card and flips it around in her hands a few times, testing the weight of it. On the back she notices something strange, a scrawled note.

 

She pulls out her phone and googles the address printed on the card. It’s an apartment in New York City.

 

An address.

 

A date.

 

Hope books a flight for New York before the hot chocolate cools.

 

\---

 

Josie grabs the woman’s hand with a smile “Now you’re going to feel a slight tingle, that’s just me pulling from your memories. I want you to think of your happiest memory. Something that brings you absolute joy.”

 

The woman smiles but the siphoning falters, she’s not thinking of anything, Josie can tell.

 

She prompts her again “I like to think of my family, my sister and I used to play from a swingset in our backyard. That swingset has some of my most treasured memories on it. We carved our names in the posts there. Those little JS and LS initials are still there somewhere in Virginia I bet.”

 

The woman starts to think of a memory, Josie catches a glimpse of it. _A small boy riding a bright green bicycle through a small dirt road and a grove of red oak trees._

 

Josie starts talking “I’m seeing a small boy, a blonde. He’s cute. About 6 or 7 I’d say?”

 

The woman gasps “Johnathan.”

 

Josie smiles, this is almost too easy. “He’s riding a bike, bright green, through a grove of trees just turning red from autumn. He’s just learning to ride his bike isn’t he? He’s pretty good at it already.”

 

The woman smiles “He picked it up really quickly.”

 

Josie opens her eyes to look at the woman in front of her “Now I’m going to get the audience to ask some questions about you. I’m going to answer them for you, and you’re going to be amazed that I’m right, okay?”

 

The woman nods, scoffing slightly “Yeah okay.”

 

She turns to the audience “Ask some questions of her y’all, nothing gross or weird please!”

 

A man yells out “Where was your first kiss?”

 

“Little weird sir and I did specifically say no weird.” She turns to the woman “ If you’re comfortable with it, picture it and I’ll be able to get it.”

 

The woman nods, starts thinking of it. The image floods into Josie’s mind as she siphons from the woman. _Rain. A cool summer evening, a drive in movie. The movie playing is Carrie._

 

Josie’s eyebrows skyrocket “Miss Bennett, you had your first kiss in the rain while watching _Carrie_? Now I’ve done some weird things but that’s…. a little weird but strangely poetic.”

 

The audience laughs and cheers. Miss Bennett blushes “Well he was awfully charming.”

 

Josie smiles “I know how that goes. Another question from the audience?”

 

A woman from the audience shouts “What were the colors at your wedding?”

 

Miss Bennett smiles a little sadly and Josie feels her once again dive into her memories. _Maroon, blue, and cream. A little on the nose patriotic for Josie’s taste, personally she’s aiming for a dark purple or something along those lines._

 

“Maroon, blue, and cream. A little on the nose for a July wedding don’t you think Miss Bennett?”

 

The crowd gasps and claps once more. Josie turns to them “one more question!”

 

“What was your first job!”

 

Josie reaches out to Miss Bennett’s thoughts. _A uniform, black with a black hat. Fast food of some sort?_ “Please think harder Miss Bennett, all I’m getting is a black uniform and hat, fast food.” _The memory cuts to taking out the trash, the logo on the bag looks familiar, a bell of some sort?_ Josie smiles “Your first job was a taco bell wasn’t it?”

 

Miss Bennett gasps “Yes, that was my job for a summer in high school.”

 

Josie smiles, releases Miss Bennett back to her seat “One final trick that I think you’ll all really enjoy. I need a new volunteer! Preferably someone taller than me!”

 

Members of the audience raise their hands, she picks a tall man with poofy brown hair. He comes up to the small stage with a smile.

 

“What’s your name sir?” she asks, grabbing a deck of cards and shuffling them absentmindedly

 

“Stefan. Why do you need a tall person for this trick?” he asks

 

Josie shrugs “Felt like it.” The audience laughs.

 

She shuffles the cards and fans them out in front of Stefan “Stefan I’m going to ask you to blindfold me and then choose a card. Don’t show me the card, just the audience. When you’re ready for me to blow your mind just put your hand on my arm. Sound good?”

 

Stefan nods and takes the blindfold she gives him, securing it around her eyes. She fans the cards out and offers them to him.

 

Stefan choses a card and shows it to the crowd, hamming it up a bit, she’s sure. Josie rolls her eyes under the blindfold, this part is always so boring, she’s just standing there and waiting for the guy to show off the card.

 

He doesn’t return the card to the deck and just puts his hand on her arm. She draws from him, sees the card swim to the forefront of his memory. Queen of Hearts.

 

She turns to the crowd, still blindfolded, and announces “Queen of Hearts. Am I right Stefan?” she removes the blindfold to see him grinning and holding the card out to her. She takes it, holds it above her head. It’s the queen of hearts.

 

The crowd claps and she bows halfheartedly, makes Stefan bow with her before sending him back off stage.

 

“Thank you, thank you. My name is Josie Saltzman and I’ll be here until the end of this cruise, so plenty more opportunities to get your mind blown! Thank you!”

 

The crowd starts to disperse, she packs up the cards and her other gear, which admittedly isn’t much. A small table, cups and a ball, the playing cards, and a piece of rope.

 

The tip hat she has out is mostly full, the audience really enjoyed Miss Bennett’s bit apparently. She sorts it out quickly, putting it into her backpack as her hand touches something that’s not money.

 

She looks back down, sees her hand splayed out over a Tarot card. She glances around quickly before flipping the card and sees that it’s the High Priestess.

 

Scoffing, she turns the card over and sees an address and a date on the back.

 

It’s in one week, Josie’s glad the cruise ends in 3 days.

 

\---

 

“Ladies and gents pay attention to me! Look at my hands and look in in wonder and amazement as I bend this metal spoon with my mind!” Penelope yells to the captive audience, tapping the spoon on the metal railing of the ferry to prove that it’s solid.

 

A few men scoff but give her their attention begrudgingly. _Perfect. The ones who act disinterested are always the easiest to trick._

 

“I’ll give 100 bucks to anyone who can tell me how this trick is done!” She yells and more people gather around, excited by the prospect of easy money.

 

She walks around the circle a few times with the spoon, starting to bend it with _her mind_. She deliberately lets one woman see how the trick is done, the fake stem she uses catching in the sunlight just for her. She goes back up to the bow of the ship “Any guesses?”

 

The woman steps forward, grabbing her by the arm and pulling the fake stem out “What do we have here? Fake!”

 

Penelope pretends to be upset while she digs through her jacket for a hundred bucks. She hands it to the woman and starts to make her way off the ferry before it takes off.

 

She hears yelling behind her _“hey that girl stole my wallet! That girl stole my purse! That girl stole my watch!”_ as she hops the fence right as the boat leaves shore.

 

She scoffs as she makes her way quickly down the boardwalk, bumping into a man on the way, but otherwise making a clean getaway. She sits down in the little living room and starts to sort out her winnings. 300 dollars, 2 watches, a handful of credit cards and ids, and a mysterious tarot card.

 

Death. Neat.

 

\---

 

Josie looks at the tarot card in her hand then up at the building in front of her. It’s a little run down, but seems to the place marked on the card. She notices a pretty raven-haired girl also hanging out near the entrance, but elects to ignore her in favor of a loud voice yelling from her left.

 

“JOSIE?” Her head whips around to see the blonde head of her sister, hurling towards her. Lizzie scoops her up into a bone-crushing hug and spins her around.

 

“Lizzie? What on Earth are you doing here! I thought you were in LA!” Josie smiles into her sisters embrace.

 

“I got a… business offer in the city, what are _you_ doing here Josette?” Lizzie sets Josie back down on the ground, looking her sister up and down “You look great by the way, that cruise stint really did wonders for your skin!”

 

Josie looks at her sister in shock and pulls out her tarot card “You got one too?”

 

Lizzie pulls out The Lovers “Ironic as it may be, this is the one I got. The priestess though? Very fitting for your little tricks.” she pulls Josie along, across the street and into the building “Do you have any idea what this is about?”

 

Josie enters the building, holding open the door for Lizzie. Neither of them notice the raven-haired girl slipping in behind them. The twins climb the stairs to the 3rd floor, turning down the hall to see Hope Mikaelson leaning against the door to apartment 314.

 

Lizzie’s face falls immediately “Mikaelson.”

 

Hope’s face lights up “So lovely to see you too Elizabeth.”

 

Josie looks between them “You two know each other?”

 

They answer at the same time, glaring across the hall “Unfortunately” “Yes”

 

Josie lets out a breath “This should be fun”

 

“Oh I agree it will be, but darling I haven’t caught your name yet?” A husky voice says from behind her.

 

All three heads turn to see the raven-haired girl from outside, dressed in a ridiculous leather jacket and smiling like the cheshire cat. The girl holds out a card. Death. “I assume we all have one? I’m Penelope.”

 

Lizzie holds up the card “Lizzie. The Lovers.”

 

Hope fishes her card out from her pocket “Hope Mikaelson. Magician.”

 

Josie grabs hers “Josie Saltzman. The High Priestess.”

 

“Lovely, now that’s we’re all here, practically holding hands and singing kumbaya, how do we get into the apartment?” Hope asks, trying the door to show that it’s locked.

 

Penelope scoffs “Really? 3 of magic’s finest and none of you can pick a lock?” she stands up straight and moves past Josie, gently moving her out of the way “‘scuse me princess.”

 

A light blush colors Josie’s cheeks as Penelope kneels down in front of the door, fiddling with the lock using a bobby pin and a paperclip. Soon she stands back up, opens the door and flourishes “Just like magic!”

 

Hope pushes past her into the apartment, muttering “show off.”

 

The women all enter the apartment and conviene in the living room. The apartment is empty for the most part, some basic furniture in a few of the rooms, but the living room is suspiciously empty. The only things on there are a single rose, a card, and a vase.

 

Lizzie picks it up the card and reads out loud “Now You See Me. I guess the theme of today is annoyingly cryptic! Wonderful!”

 

Penelope picks up the rose, offers it to Josie, quoting “A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet” before tossing it in the vase.

 

Water starts to leak from the vase, spilling onto the ground. Slight indents in the ground start to fill with the water, hissing and filling up the room with steam.

 

The four step back as lights overhead begin to flicker and turn on. In the steam images are projected. Diagrams, an elaborate stage, and a vault.

 

Josie and Penelope speak at the same time

 

“It’s a show.”

 

“It’s a heist.”

 

\---

 

“You two are the most unhelpful sacks shit I’ve ever met in my entire life” Lizzie says as she struggles to place all the grocery bags in the kitchen.

 

Penelope’s eyebrows skyrocket as she takes in the amount of food Lizzie brought in “I told you to grab some snacks, not rob a Costco jesus christ!”

 

“We paid for all of it out of the goodness of our hearts Penelope, you know how some people are just nice? I know you might not understand.” Lizzie snarks back “Now go downstairs and help Josie, I’m sure she’d enjoy seeing you for some reason.”

 

Penelope rolls her eyes before heading down the stairs of the apartment building to help Josie.

 

Hope sticks her head into the kitchen “Jesus did we really need that much food? We’re not going to be here full time.”

 

Lizzie sighs “Penelope implied that she didn’t have anywhere else to go, so Josie wanted to make sure she was set if she decided to stay here.”

 

Hope walks further into the kitchen, taking off the gloves she had on for cleaning and throwing them in trash before starting to help Lizzie find places for all the food “That’s really nice of her, I didn’t even think about where Penelope would be staying.”

 

“Yeah my sister is, above all, a good person. She can be a kinda dense and incredibly awkward. But she’s good.” Lizzie hands Hope 4 boxes of macaroni “And I’m pretty sure she has a crush on the devil in leather”

 

They’re interrupted by laughter coming from the hallway of the apartment “Told you I was strong enough to carry all those bags up Jojo!” Penelope enters the kitchen and drops a truly astounding amount of bags on the ground. Josie follows, carrying exactly one bag.

 

“You’re just full of surprises aren’t you Penny?” Josie smiles and exits the kitchen “Wow you guys did a really good job of cleaning this place up while we were out!”

 

Penelope follows Josie out into the living area “I made Mikaelson do the bathroom in exchange for me doing mostly everything else.”

 

Their laughter and conversation fade as Lizzie and Hope look at eachother and arch their eyebrows

 

“Penny? Why are they already at the cute pet name stage?” Lizzie whisper-yells at the other girl.

 

Hope arches an eyebrow “Because they’re absolutely whipped”

 

Lizzie scoffs “Penelope is not good enough for my sister. Not by a long shot.” she leans on the doorway that leads into the living room, where she can see Josie and Penelope transcribing plans and writing diagrams.

 

The two girls are laughing and joking with each other as they do, Penelope making fun of Josie’s looping scrawl that tilts all over the place, Josie laughing as Penelope has to stand on a chair to pin a diagram high up on the wall.

 

Hope leans into the doorway across from Lizzie “You care about your sister a lot but you’re not that close are you? You never mentioned her before.”

 

Lizzie scoffs “We didn’t exactly do a whole lot of talking, Mikaelson.”

 

Hope smiles sadly “I know what we had didn’t end well but if you’re willing-”

 

She’s cut off by Penelope falling off of the chair she’s standing on and landing on her ass with a loud **thud**.

 

\---

 

“Mikaelson you really think you can pull this one off?” Penelope asks, tightening the ropes and shackles around Hope as she does so.

 

“I’m much better than you give me credit for Park.” Hope laughs.

 

They’re standing in an empty warehouse in New York, working on a show that they don’t even quite know why they’re performing. The twins are overseas, working on another angle as Hope and Penelope build the stage and custom props.

 

Penelope stands up, brushing off her knees, “Alright Mikaelson, work your magic.”

 

Hope looks within herself, pulls the magic from within and the shackles fall.

 

Penelope’s mouth drops open “Okay that is so cool. You have to teach me that. What is that, Houdini remastered?”

 

“Magic.”

 

“Actual magic?”

 

“Yes Penelope, actual magic.”

 

Penelope scoffs “Okay sure Mikaelson, no need to get cocky.”

 

Hope steps out of the chains “No I’m serious, Penelope.” she walks over to a workbench, covered in nails and tools.

 

Hope sticks out her hand and all the tools on the bench start to levitate, floating gently up in the air. The nails float out, forming a crown in the air above Penelope’s head. She laughs, poking at them as they softly spin and circle her head.

 

Penelope steps out from under the nails, raising a hand. They start to move again and Hope looks on confusedly. The nails move to be in front of Hope, forming a middle finger.

 

Hope waves a hand and everything drops.

 

She looks over at Penelope “You too?”

 

“You really thought that you were the only magician who practiced actual magic? You really do think you’re the center of the universe, don’t you Mikaelson?”

 

“No but you don’t even do magic magic, you just pickpocket people after you distract them with showy bullshit.”

 

“Ouch Mikaelson.”

 

Hope walks over, pointing a finger into Penelope’s chest “I’m serious. Where did you learn to do magic? Do the twins know? Can the twins also do magic? Did we get these cards because we’re actual magicians?”

 

Penelope shrugs “In reverse order, I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know, and I don’t know”

 

“Why did you say in reverse order if you just don’t know any of them”

 

She smirks “Mostly to annoy you.”

 

Hope sighs “I’m being serious, how did you learn magic?”

 

“I don’t know really, one day I was just upset and this candle in my bedroom just lit up by itself. Every day after that I made that candle light and I just kept getting better. I don’t use it unless I absolutely have to though, something you should probably think about.” She picks up the nails off the ground, putting them back on the workbench.

 

Hope smiles “Yeah fuck that, if it’s unexplainable then that’s just better for business.”

 

“Until you get burned at the stake for being an actual witch.”

 

“Hah hah, you’re so funny has anyone ever told you that?”

 

Penelope smiles softly “Josie thinks I’m hilarious thank you very much.”

 

Hope grabs two bottles of water, throwing one to Penelope as they sit on the ground, “Ah, Josie Saltzman, your one true weakness. What’s going on between you two?”

 

Penelope drops her head, blushing slightly “Nothing Mikaelson, we work together. That’s it.”

 

“Uh huh, and I’m the damn easter bunny.” Hope scoffs.

 

The other girl snaps her fingers “We could turn you into an actual rabbit for our final trick! Man that would be a great way to get you to shut up!”

 

\---

 

“Hey Lizzie, do you think dad would be disappointed in what we’re doing?”

 

“Josie since when have you cared about what our father thinks? I thought we agreed on dumping the concept of parental approval after his reaction to your first girlfriend?”

 

“I don’t know, I just- is what we’re doing the right thing?”

 

“Yeah, I really think it is.”

 

\---

 

Jumping into Penelope's arms feels a lot like coming home. The muffled “oof” Penelope lets out sounds a lot like _I’m happy to see you too_.

 

Lizzie scoffs as she sets down their bags in the entryway “Don’t expect me to go jumping into your arms Mikaelson, I don’t like you that much.”

 

Hope offers her a soda “Wouldn’t want you too anyway, you have the grace of a baby giraffe.”

 

“Hey!”

 

\---

 

“Your card work is getting better Jojo, but I think it could still use a little work.”

 

“Oh shush Penelope, not all of us can throw cards 20 ft across a room and that’s okay. Don’t be mean.” Josie replies, sitting down on a couch.

 

Penelope comes and drapes herself across the back of the couch, her mouth coming to rest right next to Josie’s ear. She takes her hands and draws them across Josie’s shoulder as she whispers “Maybe it’s time for a little real world experience Jo”

 

Josie suppresses a shiver as she asks “What do you have in mind?”

 

Penelope flourishes 7 cards in front of her face “Poker.”

 

They walk through the seedy bar, Penelope leading until they get into a back room. Penelope pushes the door open and a crowd of voices yells out greetings. She smiles and waves, ushering Josie in behind her. They set up at the bar and Josie turns to Penelope with a smile.

 

“You know if you wanted a date you could have just asked me to dinner.”

 

Penelope spits her whiskey out “No I wasn’t- I didn’t. No I. I just brought you here to practice your card work. Not a date!”

 

Josie smiles “And what if I wanted it to be a date?”

 

“Then maybe you should go over to that table with the very fat man, ask him nicely to deal you in, and win some money so you can take me out someday.” Penelope points across the room towards a table on the outskirts that does, indeed, have a very large man sitting at it.

 

Josie turns to Penelope, stealing her whiskey “Fine. I bet I won’t even have to cheat.” she says with a smile before approaching the fat man.

 

He welcomes her down to the table and she puts in the starting bet of $100. He hands her the chips and deals to the whole table before asking “So darling, dating our dear Penelope?” His voice is soothing and deep, not quite what Josie had expected. But she can work with this.

 

She smiles and blushes a little bit, glancing down at the cards in her hand “Something like that” she’s been dealt the ace and queen of hearts. Not bad, not great. She looks around the table, judging the others reactions to their cards.

 

The fat man is grinning broadly. An Italian wearing sunglasses has a bad hand and isn’t even trying to hide it. A short man in a purple jacket is deliberately impartial. The other woman at the table, a blonde hidden behind a curtain of hair, is tapping her hand rhythmically. Josie accidentally (on purpose) knees the table, causing the woman to stop tapping. She doesn’t resume.

 

From what Josie can gather, Fat man has an okay deal, Sunglasses doesn’t stand a chance, Purple Jacket depends on the community cards, and the woman has pocket aces.

 

The fat man flips the first 3 cards. A 10 of hearts, a 5 of hearts, and the jack of diamonds.

 

The woman flips her hair out of her face angrily. _Guess she doesn’t have the ace of hearts_.

 

Sunglasses folds immediately. _Left eye, tightening of the cheek. Must be a twitch in his left eye, that’s why he wears sunglasses. An easy tell to track._

 

Purple raises a few chips. _His confidence is faked, the smile is too tight on the right side. That’s his tell._

 

Fat man matches him and throws in a few more. _His tell is related to his hands, he fiddles with them too often for how confident he seems._

 

The woman raises as well. _She hasn’t resumed tapping, left hand tell of some sort then._

 

All eyes turn to Josie who nonchalantly throws in what she needs to, nothing more.

 

The next community card is drawn. A 7 of hearts. _Lucky for her._

 

Sunglasses watches with glee, Josie knows someone reading the table when she sees it and she’s not the only one reading this table right now. She makes a mental note to look out for him.

 

Purple folds. _His right cheek gave him away long before he folded._

 

Fat man raises. _Josie still can’t figure out his tell, but it’s just a matter of time. Nobody can sit across from her and not get figured out._

 

The woman calls. A small movement hear the woman’s ring finger draws Josie’s attention and she sees that the woman taps twice on the ring before deliberately putting her other finger down on the table. _Bingo._

 

Josie raises. _This is going to be a piece of cake._

 

All eyes are on her, the newcomer to the table. She’s not behaving the way they think a newbie player dragged in off the street would play. _Good. She’s better._

 

The final card is revealed. 8 of hearts. Josie outwardly frowns while inwardly gloating. _This game is going to be too easy._

 

She wins the first round. The fat man congratulates her but she waves him off saying “beginners luck I guess.”

 

She strategically loses the next round, and the one after that, but once her first three rounds end she wins. She’s on her 5th win in a row when Sunglasses accuses her of cheating. She smiles and stands, shrugging off her jacket so she’s left only in a tank top, exposing that she has nothing up her sleeves.

 

The fat man calms sunglasses by saying “She’s with Penelope and clearly not cheating. She’s just incredibly lucky.”

 

“Oh you have no idea how lucky she is Gus.” Penelope appears over her shoulder, as if summoned. She leans down so her breath once more is tickling Josie’s neck as she whispers “Not that lucky though.”

 

Josie smiles before whispering back “I’m just that good Penelope. Watch if you don’t believe me.”

 

So Penelope pulls up a chair and watches as Josie wins, and deliberately loses, 7 more rounds. She taps her on the shoulder “I think it’s time you let these people play in peace. Thanks for dealing her in Gus, I guess I got a poker prodigy on my hands!”

 

The fat man smiles “Any friend of yours is a friend of mine, but she won’t be for much longer if she keeps stealing like this.”

 

Josie collects her chips and they go trade it in for money. All in all she’s made about $545. She flashes the money at Penelope “Now what did you say about dinner?”

 

\---

 

“Lizzie this won’t work unless you trust me.” Hope says exasperatedly. Five times they’ve set up this trick, five times it’s failed.

 

“Trust Mikaelson? You want to talk about trust? That’s rich.” Lizzie spits out, towel drying her hair to get rid of the goop.

 

Hope sighs “Are we really going to do this now?” she sits down on a bench tiredly.

 

“If not now then when?” Lizzie spits out, throwing her towel at Hope’s feet, sounding suddenly exhausted “I’m tired of this, Hope, you and I just go in fucking circles. So let’s fucking talk.”

 

Hope looks up at Lizzie, seeing nothing but hurt and exhaustion in those clear blue eyes. She pats the bench next to her “Okay. Let’s talk.”

 

\---

 

**Las Vegas**

**One Year Later**

 

“You ready to do this ladies?” Hope asks, pulling on gloves and surveying her three friends. Josie is perched on Penelope’s lap, “helping” Penelope get her tie straightened. Lizzie is absentmindedly shuffling and flourishing cards.

 

Lizzie tosses a card over at her. Hope catches it, the queen of hearts. “Ready as I’ll ever be.” Lizzie says, cracking her neck and taking the card back from Hope with a small smile.

 

“I, for one, am very ready to be a criminal. I’ve always felt like it was my true calling.” Penelope stands, wrapping her arms around Josie so the other girl doesn’t fall.

 

“I’m just ready to do this.” Josie stands upright, giving Penelope a small kiss on the cheek. “Let’s go be the Four Horsemen.”

 

**The Four Horsemen presented by Damon Salvatore and MGM Grand Las Vegas.**

 

“For our final trick tonight we’re going to do something never before seen on a Las Vegas stage.” Lizzie states.

 

“Or any stage for that matter” Josie finishes her sisters thought.

 

“Tonight, ladies and gentlemen. We’re going to rob a bank!” Hope says, throwing her arms wide as the crowd goes wild.

 

Josie and Lizzie make eye contact across the stage, twin telepathy working to say _“these fools ain’t seen nothing yet.”_ The sisters share a sly grin before turning away to ham it up for the crowd.

 

Penelope arches an eyebrow “That is a lot of excitement for a crime. I told Josie you all would be down for it but she didn’t believe me!”

 

Josie scoffs “I didn’t think that many people wanted us to rob their banks but hey, who out there has a bank you’d like us to rob!”

 

Dozens of hands in the audience go up, Hope laughs “That’s a lot of hatred for your banks, lotta vendettas in the crowd tonight.”

 

Josie, Lizzie, and Penelope each produce opaque fish bowls with bingo balls in them. Penelope presents hers to her section first.

 

“Penelope, if your people would be so kind as to give me a section”

 

Penelope chucks the ball a young woman in the audience picked out over to Hope.

 

Hope catches it midair “Thank you, let’s go for section B. Where is section B?” she does a half circle until the section in question is lit up.

 

Josie gets her audience member to pick a ball from the bowl.

 

“Josie could I have a row number please?”

 

Josie turns and lobs the ball at Hope “Thank you, Row 5, where is row 5?”

 

The row in question cheers and the spotlight narrows further.

 

“And finally Lizzie could I have a seat number from your lovely section.”

 

Lizzie allows a young boy to pick the ball before throwing it backwards towards Hope without looking. She misses horribly but Hope jogs over to catch it before it goes into the crowd.

 

“Great aim Lizzie thanks. Oh wow, we have lucky number 13! Seat 13. Section B, Row 5, Seat 13.” A man in a suit stands and an attendant hands him a microphone.

 

“Awesome, hey hi, can I get your name and your bank please?”

 

The man speaks with a heavy french accent “My name is Marcel Gerard, my bank is the Credit Republicain de Paris.”

 

Hope’s face seems to fall “Oh French, cool. I was hoping for a more local mom and pop credit union with no security but we can work with this. Come up onto the stage Marcel.”

 

Lizzie speaks “While we’re waiting for him to get up here there is one person we need to thank for making tonight happen. Without him we would just be four magicians working the circuit trying to get, well here. If you don’t know his name from one of the many many companies he plasters it on then let me be the first to introduce you all to our benefactor, our mentor, and friend Damon Salvatore!”

 

Damon stands, gets handed a microphone as Lizzie continues to speak “We appreciate everything you’ve done so much Mr. Salvatore, so much so that when we made the posters for this we put your name right at the top.”

 

Damon smiles “If you’re half as good as you think you are, darling, that won’t be necessary much longer.”

 

Josie hits Marcel lightly on the chest as he comes on stage, snapping her fingers next to his ear. He shakes his head once and nods.

 

Lizzie fans out cards in front of Marcel “Now pick one, show it to your section but not to us.” He does so and she hands him a pen “Sign it, in English preferably.”

 

He signs it and Penelope says “Now stick that in your pocket and make sure you have your ticket stub, you’ll need that later.” patting his suit pocket jokingly.

 

The crowd gives a round of applause as Hope speaks again “Now to our cardinal of clairvoyance, Josie Saltzman”

 

Josie smiles “Now what Penelope is bringing to the stage is what we in the magic business call a teleportation device.”

 

Penelope brings out a strange looking helmet, all wires and blinking lights with a gopro and microphone attached to it. She parades it around the stage once before stopping near Marcel and Josie.

 

“You will need to wear this device so you can fall through space and time to your bank in the… 7th? 8th! Arrondissement in Paris. Now once you are there we will be able to communicate with you using this helmet.” Josie explains to the man.

 

Penelope places the helmet carefully on Marcel’s head, laughing a bit as she does “The helmet has the added bonus of being incredibly attractive if I do say so myself.”

 

“It’s 10:45 pm in Vegas, which means it’s just about to be 8 am in Paris, we’re going to rob Marcel’s bank right before it opens.” Hope says, handing Lizzie a piece of black cloth “Lizzie if you could do the honors of summoning our teleportation platform.”

 

Lizzie takes the black cloth, whips it around a few times, and throws it into the center of the stage. Hope and Penelope both watch intently, focusing on the cloth as it multiplies, flying and creating a vortex in the middle of the stage. The entire center of the stage is obscured by the flying black cloths. Suddenly, they all drop, and a strange contraption sits on the once empty stage.

 

The crowd oohs and aahs in wonder as they gaze upon the strange device. It’s a raised pedestal connected to a small roof with spindly supports. Josie helps Marcel step onto the pedestal, Penelope brings a thin white cloth barrier down from the roof to the bottom, Marcel still somewhat visible through it.

 

Hope picks up a comically large button and the girls begin a countdown.

 

“One.

“Two.”

“Three.”

 

Hope presses the button and the roof and the pedestal raise to meet each other quickly, effectively squishing Marcel. But he’s vanished. The crowd cheers.

 

Hope fakes concern for a bit “Oh shit, we lost him.”

 

“I was just beginning to like that little French guy” Penelope pouts.

 

“Guys, look!” Lizzie points at a large screen hanging from the ceiling, a pixelated image appears, clearing quickly. It’s Marcel, in a bank vault.

 

“Oh Marcel, Marcel hey! Can you hear us?” Hope speaks and Marcel nods.

 

“Yes, I can hear you. Is this money real?” He reaches out and grabs a few euros, playing with them in his hand.

 

“Yes they’re real, looks to be 3 million euros worth wow. You go to a very rich bank Marcel, I’m impressed.” Hope says “Now there’s a button on the side of your helmet, don’t press it yet, just find it.”

 

Marcel finds the button and nods.

 

Penelope steps up to speak to Marcel “Now Marcel, take the card you signed and your ticket stub tonight and hold them out in front of you.” He does as she says and holds the two cards out over the palette of money “Now drop them.”

 

Hope speaks again “Now Marcel that button we talked about earlier? That activates an air duct connecting Las Vegas to Paris. Press it.”

 

Marcel presses the button and the money starts to swirl around Marcel’s vault, flying up into the large vent on the ceiling. He looks around at the money, laughing and scoffing as he does so.

 

Lizzie holds an exaggerated hand up to her ear “Do you hear that? What’s that noise?”

 

Everyone in the crowd looks up as euros start to fly from the ceiling, raining down on the crowd.

 

The Four Horsemen bask in the raining money as the crowd goes wild.

 

“We are the Four Horsemen, thank you Marcel for your bank and thank you for being such a fantastic audience! Good night!”

 

The only person in the audience not applauding is a man sitting near the top of the bowl seating, recording the whole thing on a small palm-held camera.

 

\---

 

_Ring ring_

 

_Ring ring_

 

_Ring ring_

 

“Agent Kirby. This better be good Clarke.” The man angrily paces around the room “Hold up, tell me I heard this wrong. Magicians?”

 

His eyebrows shoot up as he listened for another moment “Magicians? Magicians robbed a bank? Bring them in I guess?”

 

\---

 

Penelope was having a great morning. She and Josie were sitting at the breakfast table, playing a wild game of go fish where they throw the cards back and forth.

 

“Got any fours?” Josie asks, smirking.

 

Penelope takes two cards from her hand and throws them, one after another into the air near Josie’s ear. Josie catches them both with a smile.

 

Hope watches them from the windows, where she’s reading a trashy romance novel that isn’t nearly as disgusting as the loving scene in front of her.

 

She scoffs as Josie flings a card and it lands perfectly behind Penelope’s ear. “Could you two just fuck it out already, the tension is killing me.” she asks, not even bothering to glance up at them.

 

Both of them look up, ready with biting remarks but are cut off as the door slams open.

 

“FBI, HANDS IN THE AIR!”

 

Penelope and Josie both slowly look over, smiling.

 

Hope doesn’t look up from her book.

 

“DROP THE BOOK. HANDS UP.”

 

Hope drops the book, raising her hands slightly.

 

Lizzie starts to come down the stairs, putting on a jacket. The FBI agents swing around and point their guns at her. She raises her hands “I don’t suppose one of you boys would help us with our luggage?”

 

As they exit through the lobby, in handcuffs and escorted by FBI agents, they’re applauded by the hotel guests.

 

\---

 

“Agent Kirby there you are!” Agent Clarke walks up to him, handing him a coffee.

 

“Clarke, why do I have to take this case? I’m a month, two months tops from breaking open the McGinnis case, I just got Little Vinny to sign a deal to finger his dad for all those crimes, I’m so close.” Landon takes the coffee, glaring at the taller man as they continue into the main office space.

 

Clarke shrugs “Orders are orders.”

 

“So you want me to interview a bunch of crackpot magicians who claim to have robbed a bank and stole 3 million euros?”

 

“Actually it’s 3.3 million.” a new voice speaks with a soft French accent. Landon looks over to the source of the voice and sees a tall black man in a suit standing and looking out the window. The man turns, offering a hand “Rafael Waithe, Interpol.”

 

Landon’s face falls “Seriously? Interpol? It’s bad enough I have to go investigate Criss Angel: Mindfreak but now I have to work with, no offense, Interpol?”

 

“I don’t appreciate being talked down to Agent Kirby. I’ve already talked to the frenchmen from last nights show, if you’d like to play catch up this entire investigation you can or you can get over whatever bad attitude you have now and we can work together alright?” Rafael speaks lowly, stepping up to Landon as he does so.

 

Landon thinks for a moment before sticking out a hand “Welcome to the team Agent Waithe.”

 

They begin to walk down the interrogation room hallway. They look in first on Penelope, asleep and lounging on the table. Rafael reads from her file “Penelope Park, age 23, foster kid grew up in the system until she was adopted. Two bit thief with a rap sheet from here to the Louvre but nothing major, petty theft mostly. She got into magic a few years ago, this is her first major performance.”

 

Landon shakes his head “She’s not the mastermind, next.”

 

They approach the next room holding Lizzie. She’s sitting on the table, spinning her chair around using her feet. It seems to levitate in the air for a moment before crashing down. Rafael reads again “Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Saltzman, daughter of former magician Alaric Saltzman, and twin sister to Josie who is in the next room. She specializes in card tricks and escape attempts. She’s not bad at all.”

 

Landon keeps moving “I don’t think we’ll get anything out of her, but she’s an option.”

 

Rafael comes to a stop in front of the third interrogation room “This is a jackpot if you’re looking for the weak link. Josette ‘Josie’ Saltzman, other daughter of Alaric Saltzman. Kicked out of her home at age 18. She and Lizzie managed to survive on their own for a few years before Josie found her way into college and Lizzie left for the west coast. She’s the mentalist, and if her claims are to be believed, she’s damn good.”

 

Landon looks in at Josie, who turns her head and stares right back at him, even through the one way mirror. “Creepy.”

 

Rafael shrugs “Only other option is Hope Mikaelson, daughter of the late Klaus Mikaelson, the father of modern magic. She’s most likely the mastermind, she has an ego like nothing I’ve ever seen before but she’s good, damn good, at what she does.”

 

Landon sighs, hands on the door for Josie’s interrogation room when Clarke stops him “Landon, for the record, Mentalism has never been proven to be scientifically accurate.” “okay?” “I’m just saying most of what she says is going to be guessy bullshit. Don’t believe any of it.”

 

Landon sidesteps Clarke, opening the door to the room “We’ll be fine Clarke, she’s just a kid.”

 

Josie perks up when they enter “Hey deepest apologies to the agent who was in here earlier. I was a little mean with the whole _“you have phone sex every thursday with an operator named Camille but your wife doesn’t know anything about it”_ bit. I mean obviously if you believe Agent Clarke then he doesn’t, but his face tells a different story.”

 

Landon turns his head and looks to where he knows Clarke is on the other side of the window.

Josie continues “In my defense he was being a dick.”

 

Rafael sits down, Landon takes that as his cue to do so as well.

 

“Josette? Can I call you Josette?” Rafael begins

 

“I prefer Josie, just like you prefer Raf, Agent Waithe” she answers, smiling sweetly.

 

“Right, Josie. What do you do exactly? I mean what is… mentalism?” Raf asks.

 

“Tricks mostly, some science, reading body language. Targeted guessing might be a more apt description. Throw that in with some intuition and some-” Josie smiles and claps her hands together “magic. And you have my special brand of mentalism”

 

Landon scoffs “It says here that you’re quite renowned for your hypnotism as well Josie, that you can even hypnotise people over the phone.”

 

Josie shrugs “All hypnotism is is just getting somebody to listen to you. The phone hypnosis only works for men, fun fact. I think there’s a sad joke about phone sex in there somewhere, ask Agent Clarke.”

 

Landon shakes his head “But why do you do hypnosis if you can just read people’s minds anyway? What’s the point of placing them into hypnotic states?”

 

Josie shakes her head a bit “You can do very different things with hypnotic states than you can by just reading someone. Hypnosis is the art of putting ideas into people’s heads and connecting them softly with triggers. It’s honestly an art form, one I’m very proud to have mastered. Have you ever been hypnotized before Agent Kirby?”

 

“No, I think it’s bullshit.”

 

Josie smiles “No you don’t. Well you think it’s bullshit but you also think that I could hypnotize you at any moment don’t you? Hmm, strange that you don’t believe in magic yet you’re so scared by it.”

 

Landon barrels on “Says here you were kicked out of your house at age 18, wanna tell me why that is? Dad get tired to keeping up with your mental tricks?”

 

“No I didn't practice mentalism when I lived at home, Lizzie and I didn't start magic until we left. I brought a girl home. He wasn’t happy about that, seeing as he lost our mother to another woman a few years back, he’s an incredibly judgemental man.” Josie sits back, apparently bored of the conversation “He yelled, I left, Lizzie found me at a motel down the street and the rest is history. But you knew that already didn’t you, Agent Kirby?” She leans forwards with renewed interest. “You lost a parent too, didn’t you Agent Kirby. Mother? No, father!” her eyes light up “You have more daddy issues than my sister and I. Impressive.” she sits back “I appreciate the walk down memory lane but are we done here gentlemen?”

 

Rafael speaks up “You’re good at stalling and not answering questions. How did you rob that bank last night?”

 

Josie shrugs “Magic, Agent Waithe, Magic.”

 

\---

 

Hope shuffles the deck of cards in her hands smoothly as Raf continues asking questions “So if you had nothing to do with it then how did the playing card and ticket stub get into the vault?”

 

“Oh yeah that was, what do the kids call it these days… oh right, magic!” she says sarcastically, tossing a card up only for it to be caught in midair by Landon who is standing behind her.

 

He places a hand on her shoulder “Not a good enough answer Mikaelson.”

 

Hope flinches. She bundles the cards together and throws them over to Raf, bumping his can of diet coke as she does so. “You can keep those, don’t share with him.”

 

“Okay Mikaelson. Shut up. Even if you didn’t rob that bank then you know who did, that makes you an accomplice. I will arrest you if you don’t start talking!” Landon yells, slamming his hands down on the table.

 

“I mean, if you were willing to arrest me then yeah, I would. But arresting me would be admitting that you, here at the FBI and your friends over at Interpol, believe on an institutional level in magic. The press would have a field day and we would be more famous than we already are.”

 

Hope stands as she continues “So get close, Landon Kirby. Get all up in my business. Because the closer you are, the less you’ll see.” She throws her hands down and the cuffs fly off of her hands and onto Landon’s wrists. “Oops.”

 

Rafael stands but she gestures for his diet coke. He grabs it and rattles it, hearing something metal inside. He opens the can and pours it out on the table, diet coke fizzles on the table but the handcuff key also falls out as well.

 

Hope sits back down “Now if you don’t mind, I have a show to get to."

 

\---

 

“Is this your first date?” Lizzie asks, gesturing between Rafael and Landon “Lots of tension in the room, now I get what Josie was saying about you two. You’re like the odd couple of federal investigations.”

 

“What?” Rafael asks “I’m not gay.”

 

Lizzie laughs “Neither was I, once upon a time. Don’t restrict your sexuality so much Agent Waithe, it is a spectrum after all, let your freak flag fly. I mean have you heard about some of the shit these American agents are up to? I mean Agent Clarke with the phone sex thing? Hilarious.”

 

Landon looks around the room “How did you hear about that?”

 

Lizzie taps a finger to her temple “Twin telepathy Agent Kirby. Anything Josie knows, I know. I know about your dad. I know that you asked her about that phone hypnosis thing so much because you’re scared of what she could do to you.” She leans in towards the men “I know you don’t like sitting with your back to the door, but you like to keep the window on your left side more than the door thing, so you’re sitting with your back to the door now but only because the window is on your left.” she leans in more “I know that you don’t believe in magic but this shit is so unexplainable, so fucking weird, that you feel like you have no choice.”

 

Lizzie leans back “Wow Josie got way more out of you guys than I thought she did. God I love her. Anything else agents?”

 

\---

 

Landon Kirby walks into the interrogation room “I really don’t even want to talk to you, Miss Park, but your friends are all incredibly unhelpful.”

 

Penelope laughs “I love that you think I’ll be helpful.”

 

Landon Kirby walks out of the interrogation room.


	2. Livin' like a Man on Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [enter stage right Alaric Saltzman, shitty dad, debunker of magic, and drunken fool]

“Clarke please tell me you have something. I can’t get any of them to tell me anything helpful.” Landon throws the files down on the table as Raf sits down tiredly.

 

“Yes actually. I checked the audience from last night’s show. Now most of it was just filler, people Salvatore brought in to pack seats. But there’s one man I think you’ll be interested in talking to. Alaric Saltzman.”

 

Landon puzzles for a second “The Saltzman twins father? I mean sure but I don’t know if he’s worth that much of our time…”

 

“No, well yes, but Alaric Saltzman gave up magic a few years ago and now he debunks magicians, shows how their tricks are done. He has dvds and tv specials, it’s super neat stuff!”

 

“Well let’s see if he can tell us how his daughters robbed a bank.”

 

\---

 

“Why did you decide to come over to this dark side Mr. Saltzman? You were a magician once upon a time right? Pretty good too, if I remember correctly.” Raf asks, toying with his coffee cup and spilling a little bit on the open notebook in front of him. 

 

“Do you know about how many people have gone to live magic shows in the last… decade? 1.6 million, give or take.” Alaric states “Do you know how many digital downloads I sold in that same period? 5 million. I’m not on the dark side, I’m on the rich side, Agent Waithe.”

 

“Isn’t there a cost though? Careers? Livelihoods?” Raf cocks his head to the side.

 

“I assume you’re speaking about Mr. Ivor.”

 

“I’m sorry who are we talking about?” Landon interjects

 

“Mal Ivor, a middling magician, a two-bit hustler really. I exposed all of his tricks for my first show. He retired, but tried to stage a comeback years later.” Alaric begins “His big comeback attempt was locking himself in a vault.”

 

“He had himself dropped in the East River.” Raf finishes, Alaric drops an ice cube into his drink to prove the point. It fizzles softly on the way down before coming to rest at the bottom.

 

“The guy died?”

 

“The safe was never recovered Agent Kirby. But yes, Mr. Ivor died trying to do a trick he was ill prepared to do.”

 

Landon puzzles this for a moment “And yet you continue to sell out people like your own daughters just for money? Kinda harsh Mr. Saltzman.”

 

Alaric’s head whips around to glare “Don’t talk to me about my daughters.”

 

“Well that’s exactly what we’re here to do. Last night your daughters robbed a bank. You saw it, you were there at the show. How’d they do it?” 

 

Alaric sighs “You’re an idiot if you think they robbed a bank last night.”

 

“What makes you say that?” Raf leans in

 

“Why would I tell you gentlemen that? The longer you don’t catch them, the longer they keep doing magic, the more money I make.” Alaric leans back, smiling

 

“Maybe because if you don’t I’ll drag you in on obstruction charges and make you tell me.” Landon stands up from the table before turning back “Or maybe you just don’t have any idea how they did it and you’re trying to save face.”

 

Alaric glares and spits out “Fine.”

 

They walk across the meticulously cleaned floors of the Las Vegas stage, nothing remains of the 3.3 million euros that rained down just last night.

 

Alaric begins “Showmanship and theatrics. That’s all magic is. When a magician holds out their hand and says ‘look here’ the real trick is happening somewhere else.”

 

He makes his way up on the stage, gesturing for the others to follow him. Landon and Raf begrudgingly follow, sharing a glance.

 

“I don’t care about the basics of magic, I wanna know how these horsemen robbed a bank across the Atlantic ocean last night.” Landon says but Raf shushes him, hanging onto Alaric’s every word

 

Alaric grabs the helmet sitting discarded on the stage “Fancy a trip to Paris?” he positions the helmet above Landon’s head, sliding it down and clicking it into place.

 

Landon steps up onto the platform “Do we really need to go through all of this?”

 

Alaric grabs the comically large button “Do you want to know how they did it or not Agent Kirby? Now say the magic words!”

 

“Blow me.”

 

“Close enough!” Alaric presses the button and Landon falls.

 

He catches himself before he lands flat on his ass in a vault. He stands up, looking around and turning fully around when the vault door opens and Alaric and Raf walk in.

 

“Personally I prefer to take the stairs to Paris.” Alaric says, smiling.

 

“So it’s a fake vault. What was the point of the helmet?” Landon asks, taking it off and tossing it on the ground.

 

“I just thought it complimented your outfit”

 

“So they had a vault set and the Frenchmen was a plant.” Raf says

 

“Not a plant. They programmed him. They knew exactly who he was, what bank he went to, and what seat he was in.”

 

Landon looks up “No I thought the audience chose the seat number.”

 

“The audience  _ thought _ they chose the seat number. The Horsemen were just palming the seat number they wanted.” Alaric leans against the vault wall, seemingly bored.

 

Raf speaks up “You said they programmed him? How would they go about such a thing?”

 

Alaric waves his hands “That’s Josie’s mentalist shit, not mine. My best bet is that they got him on his home turf and planted the idea in his head until he came to vegas to see a show. When he got here, they activated him on stage.”

 

**One year earlier**

**Paris, France**

 

Josie hangs out near the bridge. She spots the mark, Marcel Gerard, coming across it. She touches her ear softly, activating the comm device there “He’s coming towards you, 10 o’clock, blue coat.”

 

The device crackles as Lizzie responds “Got ‘em”

 

Josie watches as Lizzie brushes past him saying a loud “Viva Las Vegas” Marcel looks up but returns to his regular route quickly.

 

“Alright, that’s step one. How many more?” Lizzie’s voice comes over the comm again.

 

“11.”

 

“Wait are you kidding me? We don’t have that much time Josie!” Lizzie’s indignant squawk tops out the comm, resulting in a shrill feedback noise. 

 

Josie digs it out of her ear as Lizzie approaches “You know I’m kidding right? We just need the chip and then I’ll do just a little bit of magic and we’ll be back home to the states.” she says.

 

“Good.”

 

“What, you can’t wait to get home to Hope Mikaelson?” Josie mocks, linking their arms and walking back towards their hotel 

 

“As if!”

 

**Present day**

 

“So you’re saying that they went to France specifically to pick this one man who goes to this bank?” Landon asks, eyebrows raised.

 

Alaric shrugs “If you wanted an easy trick there are plenty of street magicians. These girls are good.”

 

Raf tilts his head in confusion “Alaric how did they rob the bank though, you said they didn’t?”

 

“They didn’t rob the bank, my best guess is that they targeted a shipment of newly printed euros destined for the Credit Republican.” Alaric states.

 

“They have Josie program some of the crew like she did with Mr. Gerard, trigger them into either falling asleep or just letting them take the money, then make off with 3.3 million.” Raf finishes.

 

Alaric points a finger at Raf “Bingo. Replace the real money with flash paper and set it to burn in Paris at the same time the show is happening in Vegas and voila, you’ve just robbed a bank.”

 

Landon puts his head in his hands “Alright so they’ve robbed a bank, what’s the next step for the Horsemen?”

 

“New Orleans.” Alaric says

 

“How do you figure that?” Raf asks

 

Alaric pulls a brochure out from his back pocket “They handed these out after the show last night. Great detective work, agents.”

 

\---

 

“Mikaelson I’m going to give you some advice.” Penelope plops herself down in the chair next to Hope, smiling and spinning a pen around in her hand.

 

Hope raises an eyebrow and puts down her book “Oh pray tell, what advice does the great Penelope Park have for me?”

 

Penelope points towards the front of the plane where Josie and Lizzie are tossing a stress ball back and forth, laughing at some inside joke. “That girl? The one you lost? You need to get her back.”

 

Hope’s head whips around “How did you know about me and Lizzie?” she exclaims. 

 

“I didn’t, but that response paired with all the sexual tension between you two. It’s kinda hard not to imagine you didn’t have  _ something _ at some point. Plus the way you told me and Jo to ‘fuck it out already’ that really gave you away.” Penelope says, waving a hand around nonchalantly “Go get ya girl back Mikaelson. I can see how it’s killing you.”

 

Hope huffs and leans back in her seat “I want her but I wasn’t good for her back then, what we had wasn’t good for either of us. I don’t know if I’m good for her now. I really fucked it up Penelope. 

 

Penelope cocks her head to the side, watching Josie and Lizzie as they collapse in a fit of laughter “She’ll forgive you, you just have to ask for it.”

 

“How do you know?”

 

“Because I know Josie and they’re more similar than you think.”

 

Josie approaches Penelope “Hey babe, you ready to practice some mentalism?” she asks, offering a hand to help pull Penelope out of the seat.

 

Penelope nods but turns back to Hope “Just think about it Mikaelson.” she says as she follows Josie up to the front of the plane.

 

\---

 

Penelope bounds up to Damon “Mr. Salvatore do you mind if I practice something on you real quick?” 

 

Damon looks up from his book as Josie comes up behind Penelope “Depends, are you going to rob me under the guise of guessing my card?”

 

Penelope scoffs “No, Jo’s just been teaching me some of her mentalist tricks and I wanna see if it works. Let me see if I can guess some stuff about your life just from your involuntary reactions.”

 

Damon smiles and shrugs “Sure, what’s the harm.”

 

Penelope claps “Cool alright so first I want to try to get your mothers name. Now I know her name was Lily Salvatore but I wanna see if I can guess her maiden name.” she looks directly at Damon’s face. She begins to rapidly say the alphabet, scanning his expression “A, B, C, D, E, F, G, it’s G. Isn’t it? Grey, Graham, Grindelwald, Griswold. Griswold isn’t it?”

 

Damon smiles “Actually she was a Grey before a Salvatore.”

 

Josie pats Penelope’s shoulder “You still got the letter first pass though, that was good!”

 

Penelope shakes her head a bit, shakes out her hands and begins again “Okay fine, mother’s maiden name is too hard. Maybe let’s go with like a pet? Your first childhood pet?” she places her hands on her temples, thinking hard “I’m seeing a golden retriever? No a hunting dog. A greyhound of some sort. His name is… Lucky, no Georgie, no Harry. Definitely Harry.”

 

Damon smiles sadly again “My father got a greyhound for hunting when I was 8 and Stefan was 4. His name was actually Reginald but we always called him Reggie.”

 

Penelope snaps her fingers angrily, Josie pats her on the back “Let’s take you back to the drawing board sweetie, you’ll get it eventually. Mr. Salvatore is just extremely hard to read.”

 

Penelope shrugs and stands up “I tried.”

 

Damon waves off her failure “It’s alright darling, you don’t need to be the mentalist, that’s why we have Josie.”

 

The two girls walk away and the moment they’re out of Damon’s eyesight bright smiles erupt onto their faces.  _ That was easy. _

 

\---

 

“I don’t see why you’re unpacking here, we both know that Penelope is gonna bully Hope into switching rooms so you can stay with her for the night.”

 

Josie smiles softly, throwing a flannel shirt over at Lizzie “I’m just unpacking the stuff you shoved into my suitcase because you can’t be bothered to take more than a backpack anywhere.”

 

Lizzie flings herself onto the bed dramatically “Always travel light Josie, I thought you would understand that more than anyone.”

 

Josie turns her head away from Lizzie “Did you see dad’s new special on us?” she pauses, trying to clear her throat nonchalantly “He figured out the Vegas heist, but he doesn’t really know what’s going on. He’s somehow more disappointed in us than ever before.”

 

Lizzie scoffs but a knock at the door distracts them from replying. Hope enters without waiting for a response and Penelope follows soon after, holding a laptop.

 

Lizzie arches an eyebrow “What happened to being polite Mikaelson? What if I had been naked?”

 

“Nothing I haven’t seen before. Anyway have you guys seen your dads new special? P and I were just gonna settle down to watch it. Come on.”

 

Josie’s head whips around to stare at her sister intently “I would love to watch it.” she glares at her sister, twin telepathy working to say  _ You’ve slept with Hope? _

 

Lizzie shrugs “Sound’s neat.”  _ It’s… complicated. _

 

The four girls sit down on the bed, Penelope’s laptop on her legs in the middle as they watch Alaric Saltzman tear them down.

 

_ “There’s an ancient legend about a secret order born in ancient Egypt called The Eye. _

 

_ It is said they perfected sleight of hand to steal from the pharaohs and give to the slaves, that the gods saw their work for good and blessed them with real magic. _

 

_ Their purpose? Use magic and illusion to even the scales of justice. _

 

_ Are the Four Horsemen the next in a long line of fools to believe in this myth?  _

 

_ Will they continue to evade the rules of laws and logic like they did in Las Vegas or will their misdeeds finally catch up to them? _

 

_ All we know for certain is that the Horsemen’s Act Two is sure to be remembered for its fragility for years.” _

 

Penelope breathes out through her nose quickly “Wow your dad is a dick.”

 

Lizzie laughs “Yeah you’re telling us.”

 

Penelope pokes Josie softly, to bring her out of the daze she was in “Hey do I have to meet you dad? When I have to meet your dad can I punch him in the face?”

 

Josie smiles softly “I don’t really give a shit what he thinks anymore. I can introduce him to you tomorrow night before the show, but you have to promise not to punch him.”

 

Penelope pouts before giving Josie a soft kiss on her forehead “Anything for you, sweetheart.”

 

Lizzie and Hope share a look and slink out of the bed quietly. Once they’re in the hallway Hope turns to Lizzie “Well they’re going to be out of commission until tomorrow and it’s only” she checks her watch “3 pm, it’s still light outside, wanna go exploring?”

 

“You’re from New Orleans right? Show me your favorite spot I guess.” Lizzie turns back to the door “Shit I forgot my wallet and I honestly don’t want to open that door again.”

 

Hope laughs “Just come with me, I’ll get it.” she grabs Lizzie’s hand and they out head into the city.

 

\---

 

As they approach the somewhat dilapidated storefront of St. John’s Infirmary Lizzie asks “Okay so is this the part where you ask me if I trust you?”

 

Hope turns and asks “Do you trust me?”

 

“Right now I trust you less so than usual because this place looks sketchy as all hell.”

 

Hope strides up and opens the door “Don’t worry about it, you’ll see once we get inside.” she gestures for Lizzie to enter.

 

Lizzie sighs “You better make this good Mikaelson.”

 

“I always do, Saltzman.”

 

As soon as they enter the club Lizzie’s mood changes. The inside is beautiful, ornate, and clean. A tall man is behind the counter, not looking up as he says “We’re not open until 6, sorry folks.”

 

Hope clears her throat “That’s awkward, I coulda sworn that my uncle Elijah would make an exception for me.”

 

The man looks up and moves so quickly Lizzie can’t even comprehend it so he can wrap Hope in a hug “Hope, it’s so good to see you again darling!” he says, lifting her off the ground and spinning her around twice before setting her back down with a slight  _ oof. _

 

“When I heard you’d be in town for a show I’d hoped to get an invite but I didn’t receive a ticket Hope, too scared to perform in front of your first audience once again?” He smiles at her, and only then does he seem to notice someone else in the room “Hi, Elijah Mikaelson, and you are?” he offers his hand to Lizzie.

 

She takes it with a smile “Lizzie Saltzman, other Horsemen. Nice to meet you Mr. Mikaelson.”

 

Hope hops up on the bar and grabs a bottle of bourbon “I’m sorry I didn’t get you a ticket for tomorrow uncle Elijah, it’s kinda a… specific crowd. Trust me you’ll see it everywhere soon enough.”

 

Elijah steals the bottle from her hands, putting it back “I don’t care that you’re 26 now, I still don’t want you drinking that.”

 

Hope sighs dramatically as Elijah chooses a different bottle and pours three drinks “If you think any niece of mine would drink that low shelf shit you’ve got another thing coming.”

 

Lizzie takes the offered glass with a smile “So Mr. Mikaelson… give me your most embarrassing stories from Hope’s childhood. I need some good blackmail material.”

 

Elijah’s face lights up as Hope’s falls “It would be my pleasure Ms Saltzman.”

 

\---

  
Josie cuddles further into Penelope’s side as Hope and Lizzie leave the room “I’m sorry my dad’s such a dick. He’s just… difficult.”

 

Penelope laughs “Jojo your dad being a dick isn’t your fault.”

 

“Sometimes I feel like it might be.” Josie admits quietly.

 

Penelope bolts upright “It absolutely isn’t. How could you think that Josie?”

 

The girl shrugs “He really was having a bad month and I made it worse by bringing my dumb girlfriend home to meet him without warning him first. Maybe I’m the one who made him snap.”

 

Penelope wraps her arms around Josie, stroking her hair and speaking softly “Josie don’t ever say that it’s your fault. Your dad is an angry, obnoxious, and arrogant man. You had nothing to do with it at all.”  They stay like that for a while, Penelope stroking Josie’s hair and humming softly in her ear. Penelope gently lays them down, grabbing a blanket to cover them.

 

“Tell me about her?” Penelope asks after a moment of silence

 

Josie’s head whips around “Who?”

 

“Your first dumb girlfriend. The one who helped push Alaric over the edge. What was rebellious teenage Josie like? I’m picturing…” Penelope trails off, thinking “A nose piercing? Cutting your own hair a bunch? Oh my god Josie Saltzman did you have bangs?”

 

Josie giggles and feels the awful heaviness that she gets in her chest whenever she thinks of her dad start to lift. “I did have bangs actually, and I had purple hair for a while. Never really stuck with anything because I felt like dad was disapproving but honestly when does my dad approve of anything.”

 

Penelope bolts upright in bed “Please tell me you have pictures! I need to see rebellious teenage Josie.” she grabs Josie’s hands “ _ please! _ ”

 

Josie shakes her head “We’re about to be international criminals and you’re concerned with me and my bad teenage hairstyles? I think this is the most rebellious I’ve ever been.”

 

Penelope flops back onto her back “But this isn’t even that rebellious we’re just…”

 

“Committing crimes against the bourgeois to get into an ancient magical organization that we’re not sure even exists?” Josie supplies

 

“Yeah pretty much”

 

\---

 

“I can’t believe your uncle Elijah told me all of those dumb stories about you just because I asked nicely!” Lizzie says, just a little too loudly due to the alcohol in her system. Hope really hadn’t meant for them to stay at St John’s for most of the night, drinking and dancing and listening to jazz, but they had and now Hope is way too sober to deal with a drunk Lizzie Saltzman.

 

Lizzie walks up to the door to her and Josie’s room and stumbles against it. Hope rushes to catch her “Okay Lizzie I think you might have have had just a bit too much to drink. Let’s get you to bed okay?” she tries the door. Locked.  _ Shit. _

 

“Hey Lizzie?” Hope starts, the blonde in her arms just kinda lulls her head. Hope takes that as a good sign “I’m gonna take you to my bed okay?”

 

Lizzie mumbles something that sounds suspiciously like “Take a girl to dinner first, Mikaelson” as Hope unlocks her door and helps the blonde inside.

 

Lizzie collapses on the bed and Hope turns to rummage through her suitcase for something for Lizzie to wear. She selects a t-shirt she suspects might have been Lizzie’s in the first place and turns around to see Lizzie Saltzman half naked on the bed.

 

Hope covers her eyes and holds out the t-shirt “Lizzie please put on a shirt”

 

“Why? It’s not like it’s anything you haven't seen before. Plus I hate sleeping in shirts.” Lizzie says and the telltale noises of her getting into bed follow the statement.

 

When Hope uncovers her eyes she sees Lizzie already tucked in and asleep in her bed.

 

_ This is going to be a long night. _

 

\---

 

“Josie. Josie. Josie. Josie.”

 

Josie groans and turns over in the bed, away from the source of the noise. The noise is insistent though and continues, now added by a poking in her side “Josie. Jojo. Sweetheart. Darling. Love. Baby. Wake up.”

 

“Mmph, lemme sleep.” Josie turns over again, tries to cuddle in around her pillow.

 

The poking continues “Hey dipshit, wake up. I wanna go to a museum before we commit a major crime.”

 

Josie’s eyes spring open to see Penelope above her smiling. Penelope gives her a quick forehead kiss before rolling off the bed, looking far too perky for however early it is. “Come on Jo, get up”

 

Josie sits up, rubbing her eyes, “What time is it?”

 

“About 10 am”

 

“Why’d you let me sleep so late! I thought you said you wanted to go to that art museum today!” Josie jumps out of bed, pulling on a shirt and rushing to brush her hair.

 

Penelope shrugs “I don’t know if you’ve noticed but it’s pretty hard to wake you up Jojo.”

 

Josie looks at her in the mirror where she’s getting ready “Lizzie kinda just rolls me out of bed most mornings. I wake up before I hit the ground.”

 

“Well I’m glad you’re awake now because we have a lot to see today!”

 

“Oh really? What’s on the agenda?” Josie comes out of the bathroom and sits in front of Penelope on the bed, tying her sneakers.

 

“We are going to the New Orleans Museum of Art!” Penelope announces, showing Josie the brochure “I’m going to nerd out about all the art I read about but have never seen and you’re not going to make fun of me for it. There’s an exhibit on Richard Clague that I always wanted to see and it’s there right now and we are going to see it before we’re branded as international criminals.”

 

Josie smiles as she lets Penelope lead her out of the room and through the city until they end up at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

 

They pay their admission fee and get inside quickly, Penelope guiding Josie by the hand through a tour of the museum. She points out different artists, different styles, different periods all with pinpoint accuracy.

 

Josie gives up on trying to read the information cards about 10 minutes in, Penelope is a much better source of information.

 

As they stop for lunch, eating sandwiches in the sculpture garden outside, they’re approached by a teenage girl and a young boy.

 

The young boy hides behind the blonde teenagers leg as she speaks to Josie “Hey I’m so sorry to do this but you’re those magicians right, The Four Horsemen? You’re Josie Saltzman and Penelope Park?”

 

“Yeah I’m Josie, it’s nice to meet you…?” Josie trails off and the girl speaks up again.

 

“I’m Astrid, this is Pedro.” She says, gesturing to the boy hiding behind her leg.

 

Penelope waves at him “Hi Pedro, would you like to see a magic trick?” she asks, pulling a deck of cards out of her back pocket.

 

“Where did you get those from?” Josie asks, she was  _ so sure _ there was nothing in Penelope’s back pocket earlier.

 

Pedro shyly steps up to Penelope and Astrid takes a seat next to Josie on the steps.

 

“Alright Pedro, pick a card, any card.” Penelope says, getting up on her knees so she’s the same height as the small boy.

 

“Could you explain how this is done?” Astrid whispers to Josie. Josie nods.

 

Pedro picks a card, shows it to his sister and Josie. The King of Hearts.

 

“So after this, Penelope is going to palm the card that Pedro picked before shuffling. Watch closely, she’ll throw the card towards her inner wrist.” Josie whispers, pointing out as Penelope does just that.

 

Penelope shuffles the cards, palming the one Pedro handed her. Astrid follows the movement carefully, tapping Josie’s arm softly “So then when you’re done shuffling you just put the card back in where you want it and pick it out to amaze the crowd?”

 

Josie nods “Yup, add in some flourishes so nobody can see what you’re really doing and  _ it’s just like magic. _ ”

 

Penelope pulls out Pedros card and the boy claps in awe. She leans in close and whispers something to him and he giggles. Josie watches Penelope interact with Pedro with a smile on her face, it’s just  _ so cute. _

 

Astrid looks over at Josie and then back to Penelope before gasping “Oh my god you’re gay.”

 

Penelope’s head whips around to stare at the girl incredulously and Josie carefully says “well… yeah” 

 

Astrid smiles “No no no it’s just… super cool. I don’t have a lot of like… gay role models, it’s cool to have someone else to look up to!”

 

Penelope looks thoroughly shell shocked as she says “You do know we robbed a bank right? And I’m not supposed to tell you this but we’re gonna commit more crimes before the this thing is over.”

 

“Cool. Queer international criminals? Sounds dope.” Astrid shrugs before grabbing Pedro’s hand once more “Anyway, thanks for this, Pedro thought he recognized you guys and wanted to see if it really was, sorry if we bothered you!”

 

The kids head away and Josie lightly hits Penelope on the arm “You’re so good with kids. Is there any way in which you’re not actually perfect?”

 

Penelope links her arm with Josie’s and leads them back inside “Foster system, it’s like having a shit ton of little brothers and sisters at all times. Plus when the Professor adopted me I got a new younger brother.”

 

“You don’t talk about them a lot.”

 

“My family? Oh I love them, got adopted at 15 by Professor Christopher Park. He taught history at NYU. My little brother Jay and I still text all the time, I need to call him before the show tonight.”

 

“So that’s why you’re a history nut. You had a front row seat to it for years!”

 

Penelope laughs “Yeah, I guess. We never got down to this museum though. He would like to see it.”

 

“Well at least you’re here now with me.” Josie smiles “And that’s what matters.”

 

Penelope looks up at Josie’s smile and suddenly can’t help herself. She leans up, capturing Josie’s cheeks with her hands and kisses her in the middle of a crowded art museum in New Orleans.

 

And yeah, it’s definitely the only thing that matters.

 

\---

 

“So right down this way is Bourbon Street, we were down there yesterday to go to St. John's. It also has a lot of other clubs, like Preservation Hall, House of Blues, etc etc.” Hope says gesturing down the street but continuing to walk at her breakneck pace.

 

Honestly Lizzie was having a hard time keeping up with Hope’s breakneck tour of New Orleans. She’s learned more about the history of New Orleans than she ever thought she would have to know and she  _ still _ nursing a killer hangover from the night before.

 

Hope comes to a stop adjacent to a park and Lizzie almost collides with her back.

 

“Lizzie were you even paying attention to me?”

 

“...yes?”

 

Hope arches an eyebrow “And what’s the name of this park then?”

 

“The… greenspace?”

 

“Wow so original, so clever, so not what this park is called.” Hope smiles, walking away from Lizzie and sitting under a tree. She waves the blonde over “I should probably give you a break anyway, we’ve been out since like 9 am”

 

Lizzie flops down dramatically next to Hope “Oh thank god. I’m still hungover and you’re walking way too fast for someone so short.”

 

“Hey!”

 

“Not my fault me and your uncle got sloppy drunk and traded embarrassing stories about you.”

 

They lapse into silence for a while, the soft movement of the trees and families playing in the park are the only sounds around them.

 

“Tell me something about you.” Hope says, breaking the silence.

 

The blonde looks over in shock “What?”

 

“Tell me something about you. Something I don’t know already.” she shrugs “You got to hear a lot about me last night, I wanna hear about you.”

 

Lizzie sits up, thinking a bit “You know how you and Penelope have” she glances around and lowers her voice “magic?”

 

Hope nods, slightly confused.

 

“Josie and I do too, just not in the same way. We don’t have magic of our own but we can siphon it from other sources, other magical beings or artifacts. When we try to siphon from something non-magical we can just see some vague thoughts. That’s how Josie does some of her mentalism tricks.” Lizzie explains.

 

Three things click into place in Hope’s mind. The slight tug she feels when Lizzie touches her. The way the twins had just accepted “magic” as her answer for so many of her tricks. The way Josie couldn’t read her mind when they tried it.

 

“Holy shit.” she breathes out.

 

Lizzie shrugs “Yeah, so while you and Penelope may have a magical way to get out if this all goes south, Jo and I don’t. Remember that.”

 

Hope abruptly stands and takes off across the park with a yelled “I’ll be right back!”

 

Lizzie debates getting up and going after her but the sun is warm and she’s tired so she closes her eyes and lays back down for a short nap.

 

Hope returns in 20 minutes with a ring in her hand. Lizzie opens one eye and Hope plops down in front of her and presents the ring.

 

Lizzie takes a few moments to think before she truly takes in the scene in front of her “Hope Mikaelson are you proposing?” she screeches.

 

A few nearby heads turn to look at them with interest.

 

“No! No no no no I’m not proposing! This ring is” she looks around and lowers her voice “magical. I got it from my uncle Elijah. My dad left a ton of magical artifacts behind when he died. I got one for Josie too, but I think green would be more her color, blue is definitely yours.”

 

Lizzie takes the ring from Hope and puts it on, feeling a tingle of power. She grins broadly as she points at a leaf, making it levitate off the ground.

 

“If you want me to I can power them up a little bit tonight so that you can make a wiley and daring escape after the show.” Hope mumbles, scratching the back of her neck “Or if this is weird I can just take the rings back and like enchant something else, it’s really up to you. This is just the first thing that I found and-”

 

Hope’s rambling is cut off by Lizzie’s soft lips kissing her.

 

Lizzie eventually pulls away and Hope is awestruck.

 

She giggles “Wow if I knew that was a surefire way to get you to shut up I would have done it ages ago Mikaelson.”

 

\---

 

“Pick a card.”

 

Landon cracks open one eye from where he’s trying to sleep in the uncomfortable plane seat “You’re becoming a magician now Raf?”

 

Raf shrugs “Know thy enemy. I’m figuring out how they do it. Now pick a card.”

 

Landon selects a card, looks at it, and then puts it back in to the deck while Raf looks away.

 

“Okay so is…” Raf shuffles the deck a bit and pulls out a card that isn’t Landon’s “this your card?”

 

Landon shakes his head. Raf pulls out another.  _ Wrong. _ Raf pulls out a third card.  _ Wrong. _

 

“What did you do Kirby? Not give me back the card?”

 

“My card is on that guys lap dumbass, nice shuffle.”

 

Raf looks at the guy seated next to him and sees the four of diamonds on the guys lap. He gently picks up the card before turning back to Landon “So what’s your read on the Horsemen so far? You seem to be playing your cards close to your chest, pardon my pun.”

 

London shrugs, opening the file in front of him and handing it to Raf. The first page has a picture of all four, along with handwritten notes scribbled by Landon. 

 

Next to Penelope it says “Thief?”

 

Next to Josie it says “Do Not Engage.”

 

Next to Lizzie it says “Hard to Read. Does she enjoy this or not?”

 

Next to Hope it says “Mastermind.”

 

On the top of the page, underlined multiple times is the phase  “How did they get connected?”

 

Raf takes it all in, flipping through a few other pages in the file “I may have an idea how they got connected. Have you seen Alaric Saltzman’s new special?”

 

Landon shakes his head so Raf continues “He said something about an ancient order of magicians called The Eye.” he grabs out a notebook and hands it to Landon “So legend has it that The Eye has access to honest to god actual magic. Which seems incredible and unlikely right? Well I think Mikaelson is already a member, and she’s initiating the other three into it.”

 

Landon turns the notebook over in his hands, Raf has scribbled a large eye symbol on the first page. The next includes a list of names. Mal Ivor. Sheila Bennett. Olivia Parker. Luke Parker. Katherine Petrova. Celeste Dubois. Josephine LaRue. Vincent Griffith. Eva Sinclair. There’s a series of newspaper articles about the unexplained disappearance or death of all of these people.

 

Landon looks up at Raf “Waithe, this is some illuminati level shit I hope you know this.”

 

Raf nods, grabbing out his tablet and pulling up a video from Hope Mikaelson’s instagram “Yes, but look at this video. She has chains all around her, Penelope and Josie both try the chains to see if they’re locked and real. Then, they step back and suddenly the chains just unlock and fall off of her. How do you explain that?”

 

Landon watches the video carefully. Mikaelson is in the middle of an empty warehouse with Penelope and Josie by her side. Lizzie is apparently filming. The two girls chain Hope up, test them to make sure they’re real and secure. Hope struggles for a moment with the chains before calming down and the chains unlock. There’s no other explanation for it. The chains just unlocked.

 

“I don’t know Raf, still seems pretty unbelievable to me.”

 

“Just read my notes Kirby. I think I might be onto something.”

 

\---

 

“I was serious when I said no punching. Don’t punch him.”

 

“Okay, okay, I won’t punch your dad. Unless he’s a dick. Then I’m definitely going to punch your dad.” Penelope holds up her right hand and salutes using two fingers “Scouts honor.”

 

Josie pouts “I know you weren’t a scout.”

 

Penelope shrugs.

 

“Dad! Hey! Remember me, your daughter whom you claim to love?” Josie stands in front of Alaric’s seat and he stands up, putting his hands on Josie’s shoulders.

 

“I do love you. I hope you know that.” he says seriously.

 

“Weird way of showing it, you know trying to discredit her and call her a fraud.” Penelope pipes up and Alaric’s head turns towards her slowly as he sighs.

 

“Pepper something right? The other horsemen? The thief?”

 

“Penelope Park. Magician.” She extends her hand to him, he looks for a moment but decides not to shake it.

 

“Oohkay, so as fun as this staredown is we have to go backstage to get ready for the show. Right babe?” Josie tries to pull Penelope away but the smaller girl stands firm.

 

Penelope leans in towards Alaric and speaks lowly “If you do anything else to hurt her I will  _ ruin _ you.” She lets herself be pulled away by Josie, glaring at Alaric as she goes.

 

\---

 

**“The Savoy Theatre Management would like to welcome you to this special performance: The Four Horsemen, Act Two. Unlike a traditional performance the Four Horsemen invite you to film, tweet about, livestream, and otherwise record this performance.”**

 

Hope catches the tail end of the announcement faintly “Alright ladies, ready for this?” she turns to look towards her crew. Penelope is rolling up her sleeves, Josie is straightening her jacket. Lizzie is nowhere to be seen. “Wait where’s Lizzie?” Hope asks.

 

Josie looks up “I think she wanted to chat with dad before the show. Don’t know why.”

 

Lizzie comes into the room, panting and out of breath. She looks up at Josie “I punched dad.”

 

Josie sputters while Penelope laughs “Why did you do that?” she asks.

 

“He was being a dick.” The blonde shrugs, smiling

 

**“Damon Salvatore and the Savoy Theatre present: Penelope Park, Josie Salzman, Hope Mikaelson, and Lizzie Saltzman. The Four Horsemen!”**

 

They all bask in the applause from the audience as Penelope begins to speak “What is… magic?”

 

Josie picks up after her “Our argument? Magic is nothing more than targeted deception.”

 

“So is what follows 100 different tricks?” Lizzie asks “Or one grand illusion?”

 

“So look closely. Because the closer you look” Hope glances sideways at Lizzie as she continues “The less you see.”

 

_ Let the show begin _ .

 

-

 

“I’m going to need 12 brave volunteers from the audience! 12 volunteers!” Josie barks out

 

As the 12 people assemble in front of her she smiles “If you haven’t experienced mass hypnosis before it’s unlike anything else. Now when I say sleep and touch your forehead you’re going to fall into a deep sleep. The only thing you’ll be able to hear is the sound of my voice speaking and making perfect sense.”

 

She goes down the line “Now sleep.” she taps each of them on the forehead and their heads all lull forward.

 

“Now I want you all to believe that you’re football players. When you hear the magic word of ‘Freeze’ you’re going to tackle… dismember... tear limb from limb… absolutely annihilate the quarterback.” the crowd cheers as she paces in front of the 12 volunteers “How will you know who the quarterback is? He will be the one yelling that magic word of ‘Freeze’.”

 

She taps the head of each person as she goes back down the line “up, up, up.” the 12 wake up, shaking their heads slightly.

 

“Everyone into a huddle. Let’s go! 3-2-1 Kill the quarterback!” Josie and the 12 from the audience huddle and throw up their hands. 

 

The audience members go back to their seats. “That’s all part of a secret trick that will help us later.” Josie winks at the audience and they laugh.

 

-

 

Lizzie brings out the fluffy white rabbit and the crowd  _ awhs. _ She approaches Hope, who is standing next to a classic magicians box.

 

“Now it’s time for one of the oldest tricks in the book. We’re going to make Fluffy here disappear!”

 

Hope opens the box “You can see that the box is currently empty.” she closes the front of the box and opens the top, Lizzie places the small rabbit inside. “Now Lizzie if you could say the magic word?”

 

“Uuh.. abracadabra?”

 

“Wonderful and I’ll wave this magic wand for practically no reason” Hope waves a wand once over the box and then throws it behind her. She opens up the box to show that it’s empty.

 

Lizzie smirks as the crowd applauds “Now we all know that Hope didn’t just make a rabbit disappear, she’s not  _ that  _ good!”

 

“Hey!”

 

“So today we’re going to be dispelling a few magic myths ourselves. Fluffy is in fact alive and well inside this box.” Lizzie reaches into the box and pulls the false mirror down to grab and hold the white rabbit.

 

Hope reaches into the box to pull out the mirror “Also inside the box, the mirror to make you think it’s empty. Magicians have been using mirrors to pull off the unbelievable for years, and this is just one example.”

 

-

 

“There are four of you out in the audience with pencils. I want all four of you to stand up!” Penelope says, rolling up her sleeves as four women in the audience stand, holding pencils up high.

 

“Great ladies, now if you’ll look and find one another you’ll notice that you’re in an arc, so hold your pencils in front of you, try to keep that arc shape.”

 

Penelope grabs her cards and shuffles them while continuing “Josie and I showed you earlier how these regular playing cards can fly ridiculous distances, now I’m going to show you how I can cut through these pencils. All four of them, with the same card with one careful throw.”

 

She loads the card behind her fingers “Give me a countdown.”

 

The crowd starts to count “3-2-1!”

 

When the crowd reaches 1 Penelope flicks the card, it soars through the air, cutting through the first pencil and then almost impossibly turning and cutting through the other 3 before coming back to be caught in her hand.

 

The crowd goes wild and the four women with pencils, now cut in half, are still shocked.

 

-

 

Hope comes out onto a completely empty stage with nothing in her hands.

 

“Before I get to performing my next trick I’d like to take a moment and talk about magic.” She paces around the stage “I used to not believe in magic. I know that seems weird for the daughter of a magician to say but it’s true. By growing up and seeing magic first hand for what it really was, targeted trickery and deception, I never really found the joy in it that I have today. I could always see the trick being played, I could catch the con. Much like a certain parental figure in the audience today.” She looks up to where she knows Alaric is sitting.

 

“But then, I was walking down hollywood boulevard on my day off and I saw a girl performing card tricks. She was really good. She was, I mean, just absolutely incredible. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her,” Hope arches an eyebrow as she looks into the audience “It didn’t hurt that she was drop dead gorgeous either.”

 

“The thing that interested me most about this girl was that I couldn’t figure out how she was doing it. Now I grew up next to magic, was practically born to be a magician, and yet I couldn’t figure out how this girl was doing her magic. I couldn’t figure  _ any _ of her tricks out. I couldn’t see where she was palming or swapping cards or any of that. I couldn't see any of it because she was just that good. Now some of you may know, I like to be the smartest person in the room, so when I see something I can’t figure out, I’m usually annoyed. So I went up to her, asked her for her name, and asked her to coffee. And that is the story of how I met Lizzie Saltzman.”

 

The crowd, predictably moved by the story,  _ awhs _ . Hope smiles as she continues her speech.

 

“I met Lizzie Saltzman and she made me believe in magic again, she made me  _ trust _ in magic again. So today, I’m repaying the favor of a trust fall I took long ago. Today, I’m going to help Lizzie Saltzman  _ fly. _ ”

 

Lizzie comes onto the stage “Anyone told you that you’re an absolute sap Mikaelson?”

 

Hope grins “Just this one girl.”

 

Hope holds her hands out in front of her, about 6 inches apart “Now to make Lizzie fly I’m going to put her into a giant bubble. Much like...” She takes a moment and blows a giant bubble from seemingly nowhere between her hands ”this one.” The bubble floats up and up until it hits the ceiling, miraculously it doesn’t pop. The bubble continues floating around the balcony seating 

 

Hope takes her time to blow more bubbles, filling the room with the translucent orbs floating gently. 

 

Then, she looks to Lizzie “Do you trust me?”

 

Lizzie takes a second and then nods “Yes.”

 

Hope begins blowing the bubble between her hands, stretching so that it’ll fit a tall human inside of it. Lizzie takes a running start and bursts into the bubble, letting it encapsulate her as she flies up into the air. She arcs over the crowd gracefully, dancing as she does so. 

 

She floats up, and up, and up.

 

Until she hits a light fixture.

 

Then she falls.

 

She falls onto the lower balcony, screaming.

 

She’s not hurt though.

 

Because Hope Mikaelson catches her.

 

Hope grins before whispering “I’ve got you baby, don’t worry.”

 

The crowd gives them a standing ovation.

 

-

 

Josie walks onto the stage for the finale, full of jittery energy and ready to go.

 

“Now at the intermission we had each of you write your bank balance on a piece of paper and put it inside envelopes. I want you all to take those envelopes out right now. Take ‘em out.”

 

The audience shuffles around and pulls their envelopes out.

 

“Now I want you to all at once, yell out your names. All of ‘em, I wanna hear ‘em!”

 

The crowd yells out all their names in a cacophonous roar. Josie sticks her hand behind her ear and picks a few out at “random”.

 

“Joshua? Rosza?” She calls out, a man in the upper balcony jumps up and waves his hand “That’s me!”

 

“Perfect, keep yelling out names!” Josie listens for a moment before speaking again. “We have… Lexi? Branson.” Josie silences the crowd as a woman stands.

 

“Lexi, I want you to focus on your envelope and the number you wrote down, your bank balance.” The woman nods “Okay got that number in mind? Now I want you to count from 1 to 10 out loud. Go.”

 

Lexi begins her count “One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven-” Josie cuts her off.

 

“The first number is seven. Start the count again. Faster.”

 

Lexi looks puzzled “One, Two, Three, Four-”

 

“Second number of your balance is four. Count again, quicker this time.”

 

“One-”

 

“Last number is one. Miss Branson do you have seven hundred, forty one dollars in your bank account?”

 

Lexi looks a little embarrassed “Yeah. That’s all I have.”

 

Josie smiles “See I know you believe that now but you’re wrong.”

 

She turns to Josh, standing up on the balcony “Josh, I’m seeing a 1… 4 7 3 1. Josh do you have 14,731 dollars in your bank account today?”

 

Josh nods “Yeah wow, I do.”

 

Josie turns away from him “I hate to break this to you but you’re wrong too. In fact, I think all of you who wrote down numbers are wrong.”

 

Lizzie and Hope join her on stage, Hope whispers something in Josie’s ear. 

 

Josie nods and gestures up to where Damon Salvatore sits in a balcony box “Before I tell you how you’re all wrong, I need to thank someone in the audience. This fine evening of magic and mystery wouldn’t be possible without our generous benefactor Damon Salvatore! Mr. Salvatore why don’t you come down and join us on stage for the finale! Come on down!” Damon laughs and turns to make his way down to the stage.

 

Lizzie helps Damon onto the stage “We also had an envelope made for you!” Penelope comes onto the stage with a hilariously oversized envelope. Hope helps her open it.

 

Josie speaks again “Yes Mr. Salvatore I just had to take a guess on this one but it’s north of 140 right? That’s 140 million.”

 

Hope and Lizzie flourish the giant check. It reads $144,560,932. The crowd  _ oohs _ at the large number.

 

“Is that about right for your balance, Mr Salvatore?” Josie asks

 

Damon looks at it for a moment “Yes.”

 

“How can Mr. Salvatore be correct about his balance but everyone else in the audience be wrong?” Lizzie questions

 

“It’s because Mr Salvatore is also wrong, dear sister.” Josie smiles

 

Penelope addresses the audience “Under your seats you’ll all find flashlights. What I want you to do is take those flashlights out and shine them on your paper, warm it up.”

 

The audience shuffles and Josie takes this time to pat Damon on the back “You’re gonna really like this one, Damon.”

 

Damon looks around confusedly as Penelope darts off stage and comes back with a comically large flashlight “We got one for you, but since your paper is so much larger we had to get a bigger flashlight.” Penelope turns the flashlight on and starts shining it on the check Hope and Lizzie are holding up.

 

They do this for a moment before Lizzie calls out “Wait, did Damon’s number just change? It used to say 144,560,932, but now it only says 144,490,932! It went down by 70 thousand?”

 

Josie grins “Miss Lexi Branson, could you please read your new, correct, bank balance out loud?”

 

Lexi stands and reads “70,741 dollars!”

 

The crowd cheers as Hope pretends to think and has a _Eureka!_ moment “Lexi’s balance went up the same amount that Damon’s went down. How was that possible?”

 

“Guys!” Penelope exclaims “It’s happening again!”

 

They watch as the numbers on the check dissolve and reappear again. Now it’s 144,350,932.

 

“Down by another $120,000, that’s so weird!”

 

Josie points up to Josh “Joshua read out your new balance!”

 

“$134,731!” 

 

Lizzie plays dumb “Is it possible that Mr. Salvatore’s balance is going down by the exact same amount Josh and Lexi’s balances are going up?”

 

In his seat Landon takes the scene before him, turning to Raf “Do we have any way to tell if this is actually happening?”

 

Raf shrugs, getting up out of his seat to check in with Clarke and the rest of the team outside “Is this happening? Can we tell if this is real?”

 

Penelope steps up to the crowd, ditching the flashlight. “Now we’ll admit, all of you are at this show for a reason. You all were victims of hard times that hit this city after Hurricane Katrina.”

 

Lizzie picks up “You lost your homes”

 

“Your cars.”

 

“Your businesses”

 

“Your loved ones.” Hope finishes. “But you all had one thing in common. You were all insured by...”

 

The Four Horsemen speak as one, pointing a finger at Damon “Salvatore Insurance.”

 

“You got screwed out of your settlements!”

 

“You got loopholed!”

 

“You were robbed!”

 

The crowd is angry now, yelling at Salvatore. A young man from the middle of the crowd receives a loud ding and shouts “I just got 50 thousand dollars! Everybody check your bank accounts!”

 

The crowd pulls out their phones to check, exclaiming with joy as all of them have more money. Thousands of dollars more, in some cases.

 

Damon looks to Hope angrily “Tell me this is all for show!” 

 

Hope smiles “How could we do something like this?” She walks past him to the back of the stage.

 

Lizzie walks past Damon next “We’d need access to your bank account, and we don’t have your password.”

 

Penelope smiles “Of course if we tried to reset your password that would be challenging as well. You have some security questions, like your mother’s maiden name or the name of a childhood pet.”

 

Josie smiles and puts a playing card in Damon’s jacket pocket “And you would never give us that information right Mr. Salvatore?”

 

Damon lunges at her and tries to grab her, but his foot is chained to the stage.

 

The four girls turn to the crowd and say “We are the Four Horsemen. Goodnight New Orleans!”

 

Raf hops onto the stage “Stop! Stop don’t move!  **Freeze!** ”

 

From the audience comes a shout “KILL THE QUARTERBACK!” and 12 angry football players hop onto the stage and tackle him.

 

Raf is buried beneath the bodies as Landon tries to play catch up, “hey get off him!”

 

The Four Horsemen rise up and out of the view of the audience. Landon brings a walkie talkie to his mouth “Is this happening? Did they rob him?”

 

Landon’s radio cackles to life and Clark speaks “Yes we have confirmation! They robbed him!”

 

Raf fights his way out from under the pile of bodies and runs to the back door of the theater. He looks up and down the alley, just in time to see Lizzie’s white shirt round the corner. He races to the right, yelling at Landon to go left and see if they can corner her. 

 

Lizzie looks behind her at Raf’s lumbering frame trying to catch up with her. She scoffs as she sees him and slows down a bit so he can almost catch up “You really think that I’m just gonna give up like that Agent Waithe?” She jumps up and catches a fire escape ladder “Catch you later, Raf!” Lizzie climbs up and the ladder and disappears into the window of the building. Rafael tries to grab the ladder but it’s greased, he can’t get a grip.

 

Raf runs to the front of the building, the Hotel Charlemont, and busts inside, Landon hot on his heels.

 

Landon flashes his FBI badge at the front desk and looks to Raf “What floor?”

 

“Third”

 

The hotel staff panics and hands them a keycard. They both storm up the stairs and Landon radios back to base “Hotel Charlemont, we’re on the third floor. Lock this building down.”

 

They emerge onto the 3rd floor to see Lizzie waiting for them in the hallway “Took you boys long enough” she smiles and waves before turning and taking off down the hall.

 

They take off on quick pursuit but when they turn the corner Lizzie took just moments ago she’s nowhere to be seen. Landon and Raf turn in a circle but she’s vanished. 

 

“What the FUCK!” Raf kicks out wildly, connecting with the wall with an empty  **thud.** They hear a yelp of pain and footsteps inside the wall going away from them.

 

The agents share a look before they punch the wall in unison, busting through a false wall covering the door to a hotel room. Landon takes the master key, using it to unlock the door and holds it open while Raf enters the darkness, gun drawn.

 

Raf clicks on his flashlight and shines it into the gloom of the room. Landon enters slowly, the closing door behind him blocking out the last of the light from the hallway. He reaches out, feels along the wall for a lightswitch. He clicks on the first one he feels.

 

It’s a mistake.

 

The room illuminates incredibly brightly. Construction floodlights are set up around the room, making it impossible to see clearly. Loud music starts to play through loudspeakers and a disco ball reflects lights around the room. The opening chorus of  _ Do You Believe in Magic?  _ Taunts the agents as they attempt to look around the overly bright space.

 

Lizzie is watching them from a balcony, arms outstretched. Raf sees her and points his gun at her “Stop! Don’t move!” 

 

She arches an eyebrow and starts to slowly fall backwards off the balcony, disappearing into the night.

 

Landon runs to the balcony and looks over it, trying to see where she landed but Lizzie has completely disappeared. He hits the metal rods in anger before turning back to the room and cornering Raf “How could you let her go like that?”

 

“She didn’t have a weapon on her. You want me to just shoot an unarmed magician because we think she stole some money?” Raf defends himself.

 

Landon deflates, radioing back to Clarke “We lost Lizzie in the hotel. Please tell me one of you caught her coming out of here.”

 

There’s a moment of silence before an agent’s voice comes back through the walkie talkie “Nobody’s left the hotel in the last 10 minutes Agent Kirby.”

 

“Not even a blonde girl falling off a third story balcony?”

 

“Definitely not. We’ve had guys watching all the windows. Nothing.”

 

“Did anyone catch any of them?” Landon asks, pacing.

 

“Agent Clarke was on the tail of Mikaelson but she literally put him in a dumpster. I think Agent Donovan almost got Park but she slipped away from him. Then Agent Lilian was chasing the mentalist but since she came back she’s only been speaking German. I didn’t even know Lilian could speak German.”

 

Raf hangs his head and looks around the room, eye catching a note laid on the bed. He picks it up and reads

 

_ Better luck next time <3 _

 

\---

 

Damon Salvatore finds Alaric Saltzman in a bar. A check slides into Alaric’s field of view. 5 million dollars.

 

“Prove they’re fake.”

 

Alaric takes the check and nods.

 

Damon Salvatore pays a father to betray his own children. It’s easier than he expected.

**Author's Note:**

> So I don't know how long it'll be until I get the next part up, but I continually drop no context spoilers on my twitter (@whoopsitsgay), so follow me there for more!
> 
> Special thanks to Nic who helped me edit some scenes, they're the real MVP. Special thanks as well to the Bowl of Chips gc, love y'all!


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